Change Management

Change Management

Whether the change is large or small, the ability to manage it is a critical component of high performance. I am sure this piece of article helps organizations prepare for coming changes, manage the complex organizational and workforce transition to the desired end state. This essentially becomes successfull once a business solution or transformation is in place to realize the greatest long-term value from their business improvement efforts.

Transitioning Through Change

A common fallacy is that change can be dictated or mandated. Leaders and managers who employ this strategy typically do so by delivering the change message through orders that direct employees to align to initiatives with little to no background on why a change is necessary and or valuable. It is common for employees to respond to this approach through resistance, defiance and withdrawal.

Positive behavior is not typically affected by directives or edicts. To effectively drive change in individuals, teams or companies behavior, you must affect their belief system. For example, vehicle seat belt laws are enforced by levying fines against individuals who do not adhere to the law. There are those that resist using seat belts despite the fact that that it may be in their own best interest to wear them. It is when the value of the seat belts safety is understood that their belief system may choose to embrace use of the seat belt for their own benefit.
It is more common for people to embrace change through knowledge, encouragement and support from leaders. Seems easy enough, however it can prove to be difficult for individuals to become leaders of change, as they often lack the education and experience to implement change through the development of supportive relationships.

Change will prove to be more effective and lasting as leaders engage personally with their teams and at the individual level. It is essential to create trust among people. Strong leaders will be able to accomplish this by making themselves more aware and open to communicating with their employees. Developing trust with team members is the key to the success of implementing change within an organization and having the team follow you.

Creating a Reward System
It is important to design and implement a system that rewards individuals who embrace and evangelize change. Leaders should consider the following ideas when evaluating reward systems:

Create milestones that have visibility throughout the organization and celebrate each milestone as it is achieved

Publicly acknowledge and promote those who evangelize and help drive change.

Consider financial incentives or bonuses to those who support and execute against stated objectives and milestones

Solicit candid feedback from individuals and teams and incorporate ideas whenever appropriate it.

Develop teams comprised of individuals representing as many of the different business units as possible who will be impacted by the change.

Working through the Transition
Change almost always involves the elements of risk and reward. Initial reactions from people, when faced with change, is often marked with fear and uncertainty. When this happens, people almost always resist the change. It is typical that over time, the change will become more accepted as people become more educated and comfortable with the reasons for the change.
To shorten the acceptance curve, it is important that people understand why change is being introduced and what it will ultimately produce. The capability of individuals to understand the “big picture” should never be underestimated. Once they understand, accept and promote change, the closer you are to successful implementation.

The 4 Phases of Transition

There are four major phases of transition: Denial, Resistance, Exploration, and Commitment. During any type of change initiative people will focus on the past and what worked well. This almost always leads to people pushing back on the change that has been introduced. People will often go through a period where they evaluate how the change will impact them personally and where it may leave them. People will initially evaluate if the change will impact them in any negative way evaluating if they will be able to operate successfully in the “new” way. This is when resistance is usually experienced.

As people enter the exploration and commitment phases, they start to better understand the change, they will start to understand to better understand what the change has to offer them personally. Most everyone moves through these phases and usually at different rates.

Knowledge and understanding is key to successfully moving quickly through these phases. The ability of a an effective leader to illuminate the possibilities and vision, while removing fear and doubt, can help people and teams to be more successful and efficient in implementing the change.

Denial – This phase typically represents people’s ability to ignore the immediate impact of change. People will continue to ignore change until forced to confront the change.
Resistance – When people are continually confronted with change they will eventually start resisting change by becoming angry and laying blame on others.

Exploration – Faced with the inevitability of change combined with knowledge and understanding, people will start embrace the change., experimentation and innovation are likely outcomes for this phase.
Commitment – This phase is typically achieved once the change has been accepted and integrated by individuals and teams. Once this is achieved the foundation for additional change has been created.

Summary
As a change leader, it is imperative to fully understand the transition phases. This will enable you to develop strategies and methodologies for leading people through these phases quickly and successfully. Strategies should incorporate the sharing of drivers and expected outcomes of the change and ensuring that information is shared and understood by the team while gathering feedback from individuals and teams.